Missionary Heather Hui (Assistant Director of Pleroma Missions in Cambodia) November 1, 2021
The Lord’s blessings are way beyond our requests. After being locked down for an entire month, the Women’s Home ended the lockdown on October 28.
This month’s experience has been a journey of grace and faith for the women, the organization, and me. On September 27, a nanny in the Women’s Home got infected with Covid-19; on the 29th, the Women’s Home was closed for quarantine by the Government. On October 14, 10 women were tested positive during retesting, so we had to lockdown for 14 more days. The women were terrified. Many of them cried; some cried out that they wanted to go to the Treatment Center, some said that they wanted to go home, and others were even hysterical… That night, other than sending them face masks and medicines, I couldn’t be of much help. I had to leave it to the two nannies to take care of the 11 women and 3 children and infants inside.
We couldn’t send them away because the Treatment Center couldn’t provide proper care for these women because males and females who are in the Treatment Center stay altogether in the same lobby, which is the most inappropriate way for the women we serve.
Thank God! Even though it has been very tiring, two nannies were willing to go along with our decision. It has not been easy to provide women with both physical and psychological cares, and it has been much more so, when there are 10 Covid patients. So, you can imagine the difficulty. On top of that, one of the nannies also has Covid symptoms.
How did all these things turn out? I couldn’t even imagine at the time.
Until October 19, a nanny who had been discharged from the Treatment Center for a week, and was still on sick leave, made repeated requests to let her go back to the Women’s Home, so the burden of the other two nannies could be lighter. After some struggle, we finally let her return.
When she walked into the Women’s Home, I watched her from the door, looking at the women and children. I wanted to encourage them. Knowing that they love pizza, I raised up my voice saying, “Come on, you can do it! Okay! I’ll treat you to pizza!” That night one nanny told me that they were so excited to get better soon, so they could have pizza. As the gate closed behind the Women’s Home, I suddenly felt touched and confident. They will get better, we will all sit together for pizza, and we will be counting our blessings for this beautiful experience. I saw that The Lord had prepared a table before us at that moment. The nannies’ sacrificial love inspired my faith, and I knew that they were guardian angels from God.
Yesterday, we celebrated together! They shared how their frame of mind had been changed during quarantine in the Pandemic; how they relied on God; and how they helped each other. Everyone saw only the beauty and grace, leaving us with the beauty of life and spiritual experience.
In addition, the Girl’s Home conducted a second testing on the 22nd, the results were all negative. On November 2, we will start sending them home to be with their families, whom they have not seen in a year and a half.
As for Women’s Home, we will be observing for another week before we send them home.
Please continue to pray for us:
- Pray for a safe journey; the farthest drive is about 12 hours.
- Pray for the co-workers chaperoning them, including myself, who will be the driver. Part of the journey requires an overnight stay at a hotel and contact with many people knowing little about protection.
- Pray for God to keep the girls, whom we serve, safe after returning home, and have a good time with their families.
Postscript:
The nanny who insisted on coming back to work while on sick leave adamantly refused to take the relevant payment. Eventually, I accepted her request.
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